Wednesday, March 16, 2016

When Volunteer Interviews Go Wrong! - Episode One

Mavis is a Volunteer Coordinator in a hospital and is
interviewing for volunteers. Tracey is called in for an interview. Tracey is
21.

Mavis: Well thank you for coming in to see us

Tracey: Thanks for giving me the time

Mavis: You are rather young aren’t you?

Tracey: Er…please don’t hold that against me (Nervous giggle)

Mavis: No it’s just that most of our ladies are retired. So
what are you doing at the moment?

Tracey: I’m currently in between jobs

Mavis: Well that could be a problem

Tracey: Why’s that?

Mavis: Well, we find that the young ones only stay for a
short time and then leave when they get a job

Tracey: The young ones?

Mavis: That’s right. So you can imagine the frustration for
us as the young ones are hard to rely on

Tracey: Ok..so you don’t take on young people?

Mavis: I am not saying that. We just need people we can rely
on. So what is your motivation for volunteering?

Tracey: Well, to be honest I am finding it hard to break
into the workforce at the moment and I thought volunteering would be a good way
to keep up my skills, to use my time creatively and to give back to the
community at the same time!

Mavis: Well we can’t offer you a paid job

Tracey: I wasn’t asking.

Mavis: And how long could you commit to the role?

Tracey: Well obviously finding employment is a priority but
I would like to find time to do some volunteering even when employed

Mavis: I see. I’m not too sure that you would like our role

Tracey: Well I saw the role on your website and it sounded
interesting.

Mavis: Well, our ladies are great at talking with the
patients. As most of our patients are elderly I don’t think you would have anything
to talk about with them

Tracey: I beg to differ

Mavis: Look, I think we are after volunteers with more life
experience

Tracey: Why don’t you come straight out with it?

Mavis: What?

Tracey: You are not recruiting young people

Mavis: That’s our prerogative

Tracey: Isn’t that discriminatory?

Mavis: Now listen here young lady. Its that type of attitude
from young people that gets you nowhere. I am sorry but this interview is over

Tracey: Well, I shall be contacting your management about
this

Mavis: Go right ahead. I’ve being coordinating our ladies
for 10 years now and they will back me up!

1 comment:

Lol, it's that volunteer coordinator who needs to get with the program. He's awful! How in the world did he get that position and how did he manage to stay in it for 10 years??? Unless .... hmmm ... it's a very unhealthy organization. Then he did that young lady a favor.

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This is my personal blog on matters pertaining to Volunteer Management,Volunteerism and sometimes life in general. It consists of my own opinions and does not represent the opinions of any other person, business or organization.

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Irish born, DJ Cronin commenced volunteering for organisations at the age of 15 and has been active in the volunteering sector for most of his life. DJ believes that volunteerism is a powerful movement for betterment and change in our society, and he is a passionate advocate for the sector of volunteer management as well as effective volunteer engagement and development.